We have to acknowledge that people think differently. Basically, we're not
all on an equal objectivity level because of the baggage we all bring to
any discussion-- ideas, values and goals learned during formative
development periods, media influences, personal fears, basic urges like
aggression and self-defense, etc. Therefore, Rob, as as strongly as you or
I may feel about our relationship and responsibilities to the environment,
the world is full of people who believe that plant and animal species are
merely incidental to human development and do not belong where they impede
human progress. From what I've seen again and again, these people are
usually charged with a mission of sorts as prescribed through a religious
faith, and millions of people on our continent guide their lives by a set
of religious principles. This includes Rush L who even posted his personal
list of Truths, including his personal religious "faith" and lack of desire
to view the world objectively and scientifically. He's a playground bully;
an intimidator; like a kid who squashed bugs and never grew out of it; and
he's got an audience and is an unofficial advisor to our President.
Meanwhile, 30,000 species of microorganisms, fungi, plants and animals are
going extinct each year worldwide. It's like book-burning on an
accelerated global basis.
Be that as it may, don't let the a__holes get you down, and do all you can
to keep them away from schools and politics. Objective research and
teaching and optimism and compassion and responsibility must go on! The
magazine Skeptical Inquirer had an article you may find interesting called
"Voodoo Science and the Belief Gene: Why do people decide what to believe?
And do some believe what others doubt?" I scanned it and posted it at:
http://home.att.net/~dungeness/si-belief/si-belief.htm.
-- Jay DeLong Olympia, WA "Faith is a state of openness or trust. To have faith is like when you trust yourself to the water. You don't grab hold of the water when you swim, because if you do you will become stiff and tight in the water, and sink. You have to relax, and the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging, and holding on. In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be." --Alan Watts
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